History Caryatid Building

1 history

1.1 construction
1.2 hispanic central bank
1.3 cervantes institute headquarters

history

alcalá street, 1 of oldest streets in madrid, ends @ puerta del sol, @ beginning of 20th century, points relevant financial center in city. demolitions of nueva gran vía in 1911 indicate beginnings of important urban transformations in capital. collaboration of 2 young architects, initiated in 1904, has several previous successes. success of both engineers begins when winning adepts after winning in municipal public contest of palace of communications. noteworthy architecture of madrid dominated @ beginning of 20th century existence of banks , churches. building novelty first office built in madrid. these types of buildings typical in american cities boston , chicago or in england.

construction

the spanish architects antonio palacios ramilo , joaquín otamendi received commission project branch office of spanish rio de la plata bank in 1910. both occupied in construction process of palace of communications , maudes hospital. new headquarters of bank acquired 18,000 square meters of land belonging rectangular plot of former marqués de casa-irujo palace. building of palace of irujo, gave rise lot, highly praised in time. on ground floor café cervantes.

the contractor of work celestino madurell. 1 of helpers of palacios secundino zuazo, begins work assist him. precisely, in front of scaffolding, attempt of murder made on april 13, 1913 king alfonso xiii anarchist sancho alegre shot him twice revolver.

the design of palacios , otamendi done in such way entrance building of place spacious first floor. follows diaphanous model of works of palaces, inspired american models of time: great patio of operations. remaining 3 floors dedicated offices. large interior bays made using metal beams can seen in interior. palacios work reinforced in success, luck , style receives diverse charges. due relationship brothers otamendi begins studies in first steps of metro of madrid, during construction of bank begins design entrances of mouths , accesses of madrilenian metro. on april 29, 1918, building inaugurated.

hispanic central bank

old vault of bank, current caja de las letras.

it main seat of banco español del río de la plata, later central bank (a private bank), after merger one, in 1947. in illustrations , photographs of time can see central bank @ crowning of building. in reforms missed large central hall, , view of stained glass in dome. @ time building extended barquillo street, architect manuel cabanyes, in project did not respect continuity original. since 1929 building has been close official college of architects of madrid.

after merger of central bank banco hispanoamericano, became headquarters of new banco central hispano (bch). became part of santander group s assets 2 entities merged , sold madrid city council, subsequently exchanged spanish government in 2003 in exchange palacio de comunicaciones (another building designed palacios). included in catalog of protected buildings of general urban planning plan of madrid. category includes buildings considered of relevance both in history of art , in spanish or madrid architecture, or milestone in urban fabric of city.

cervantes institute headquarters

logo of cervantes institute @ entrance of building.

at beginning of 21st century, became first headquarters of cervantes institute, public cultural institution under ministry of foreign affairs of spain, used in center exhibitions , offices. cervantes institute icon (design enric satué) placed on cover of building, located between caryatids in october 2006. on october 12, 2006, inaugurated kings of spain, king juan carlos , queen sofia. second headquarters, used teacher training center, located in colegio del rey de alcalá de henares. employees of various offices in madrid, including palace of trinity, meet in premises of new building. remodeled building accommodate offices attend administration, exhibition halls , auditorium capacity of 1200 people.